Do you like to be around complainers? Probably not. They tend to bring us down and that doesn’t feel very good.

Think about your answer to my question next time you start to voice a complaint about someone or something. Then, change what you say or maybe even just how you’re saying it.

Whenever you complain, you’re really attracting more of the same, the stuff you’re complaining about, into your life. That’s the way the Law of Attraction works. Do you really want more of what is you’re not happy about? No, of course not. Often, it’s just a habit that keeps you operating and talking in that complaining manner.

It’s our responsibility to identify the habit, figure out what’s behind our continuing to practice the habit and then determine what we want to and what we can do about it.

I imagine that after reading this post, you’ll be more attentive and will be better able to identify the habit – it will stick out at you pretty strongly next time you start to complain about something. It will be like a neon light going off in your face. Ok, great, so you’ve done step 1 – identifying the habit.

Now, on to what’s behind it. That could be as simple as hanging around people who complain all the time. Or, perhaps it’s the environment you grew up in (family). Think about that for awhile. Or, is it that, in the past, you’ve only gotten attention when you’ve been complaining about something. You’ve never gotten the attention you desire just by saying how great things are or how happy you are. Take a look at the news – why isn’t there really any “good news” papers or TV news reports? People, for some reason, don’t want to hear good things. They fixate on the bad stuff that’s going on in the world. Maybe that makes their life circumstances feel better. Or, maybe it’s just morbid curiosity? Whatever it is, it’s not healthy for us to just listen to all the bad stuff and the end of the world type reports they broadcast. There is no need or benefit from playing the same horrid stories over and over again even though we often find ourselves tied to the TV watching them repeatedly.  What is it that makes us do that? Try to figure that out in your own self and see if that will enlighten you as to why you continue to complain.

Perhaps you think that others will think you’re boring if you talk about the good stuff or put a good spin on things. After all, if others don’t want to see/hear good stuff in the news, why would they want to hear that stuff from you? Maybe, you want to “fit in” and since everyone else is complaining, you feel you have to do. It’s also pretty easy to fall into that trap since you don’t have to do much “work” to come up with a complaint. Sometimes you might actually have to put some effort into it to come up with something good, though.

Now that you’ve figured out why you continue to practice the habit, make a conscious decision to decide to either stay in that mode (and attract more bad to yourself) or to change it.

Once you’ve made that decision, things get a bit easier. Your RAS (reticular activating system) will be activated and you’ll be alerted each time either you start to complain or you’re around someone who is. That may be the first place to start. Either remove yourself from the presence of those other complainers or, if that’s not possible, do some inner work. Negate the complaint coming from another’s mouth. Tell yourself that that’s not true and that everything always works out for you. Find the good in that situation whether it’s for you or about the other person. The ideal solution is to remove yourself so that you’re not having to combat those thoughts. See if you can create a new habit or find a new location to hang out. This could create some great new opportunities for you and perhaps even change other aspects of your life. Changing your patterns often opens better doors for you!

Make a resolution to turn a potential complaint into a compliment every day. Whether this is at work or at home it doesn’t matter. It’s the action of making a conscious decision that changes the momentum and vibration. Try this for at least a week and see how things change by the end of that week. How are you feeling? What’s happened in your life? Then extend that to changing two complaints a day and so on. If you find yourself having some difficulty with this, try to just consciously express gratitude for things in your life every day – write them down. The actual act of writing is so powerful. Expressing gratitude will help put you in the anti-complaint mode sooner than you think. But it might be easier than initially having to turn a complaint into a compliment or a positive. See what works for you and then combine the two.

Doing this simple identification and change process will put you on a different plane in no time at all!

Let us know what you discover.

Terrie